1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming method, an image forming system, an image forming apparatus, a controller, a printer, a color correction apparatus and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium stored with a program for the apparatuses.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the progress in DTP (Desk-Top Publishing) technology and printing equipment, it has become possible to perform mass production of printed matter using electrophotography and ink jet systems. As such, there has been an increase in the importance of the accuracy and the consistency of the color of the printed matter that are output by the printing equipment and various color correction methods have been proposed.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-239731 discloses a technology that maintains the accuracy and the consistency of color of printed matter by carrying out calibration of the color correction of the printing equipment based on color measurement results of a printed image while outputting the printed matter with taking advantage of the characteristics of the printing equipment, that is it is possible to quickly change the output conditions of the printed matter. Specifically, when printing on paper, a calibration pattern is printed on the margin portion of the paper, which is cut off and removed without an image being printed thereon, the density of each color that constitutes the calibration pattern is measured, and the amount of color correction that is applied to the image data is adjusted based on the measurement results. Accordingly, the technology enables the periodic calibration of printing equipment while avoiding the waste of paper by using the margin portion of the paper.